Hello Missouri Members! December is dawning, so a festive and sacred season is upon us! Below in Missouri Announcements, we highlight and invite you to share the spirit of the season at our traditional Holiday Celebration December 10. Please gather with us for fellowship. Learn more below and RSVP here.
Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving. Knowing the teams and cultures of LeadingAge members, I’m confident all of us thought about our many blessings. At LeadingAge Missouri, we are thankful for the support and engagement of members. We plan, but you provide. Without collective support, we cannot advance member missions or improve the field of aging services…our mission!
LeadingAge member support and engagement manifests in different ways. Examples include volunteering for Committee or Board service, sharing insight and knowledge as an education presenter, registering team members for learning or leadership development, and offering facilities for LeadingAge events. Your support is also evidenced in the dues you pay to LeadingAge and LeadingAge Missouri. As we plan for 2026 and forward dues invoices to finance those plans, we are conscious and appreciative of your financial support. Your dues enable us to deliver excellent advocacy, education, and services to nearly 200 LeadingAge Missouri members and the older Missourians they serve. At Thanksgiving – and always – Thank you members for your membership!
During 2025, your association welcomed new members, expanded education and training opportunities, inaugurated a springtime Annual Conference, and adopted a new Strategic Plan. The Plan outlines bold initiatives for continued association growth and enhanced member value. Strategic initiatives call for expanding efforts to grow membership (“add to our family”) and to build engagement with current members (“family time”). To advance these interrelated initiatives, we are enlisting the aid of members and deploying social media.
Three executives from different members have earnestly shared their membership experience and perspective to advance our growth strategies. CEO Rodney Harrison shares how LeadingAge supports every role at every level at Baptist Homes & Healthcare Ministries. CEO Jimmy Wilfirth explains the value of connection, networking, and services available through LeadingAge. And Friendship Village’s Senior Director, Nathan Torno, emphasizes the importance of sharing LeadingAge member expertise and experience with legislators and regulators to advance aging services. Our field must act or be acted upon.
You may view (and I encourage you to do so!) the outstanding inspirational videos of these three member executives on the LeadingAge Missouri website. Better yet, you can greatly support our strategic initiatives and social media strategy by viewing them on these three LinkedIn posts and then sharing them with your social network and with your team members (to share with their networks!). Help us start the snowball rolling to gain mass and momentum for growing LeadingAge Missouri!
In this season of Thanksgiving and Celebration, we thankfully celebrate what LeadingAge Missouri members competently, compassionately deliver to older Missourians every day. Share the spirit of our collective good with someone today!
Yours in service,
